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By Julie Stahl

“And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month (which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. He burned the house of the LORD and the king’s house; all the houses of Jerusalem, that is, all the houses of the great, he burned with fire” (2 Kings 25:8-9 NKJV).

Tisha B’Av (“the ninth of the Hebrew month of Av”), is considered the saddest day on the Jewish calendar. It commemorates the destruction of both the First and Second Temples as well as other disasters that have befallen the Jewish people throughout the millennia.

Although the day is based in part on biblical events, it is a Rabbinic fast day that marks the end of a three-week mourning period.

Rabbis say that both the First Temple built by King Solomon and the Second Temple built after the return from the Babylonian exile and expanded by King Herod the Great were destroyed on Tisha B’Av.

Jewish people also remember other tragedies that happened to them during this time, such as the Crusades, the Inquisition, pogroms, the Holocaust, and anti-Semitism in general.

For instance, the Expulsion Order from England in 1290 was issued on Tisha B’Av; and the Alhambra Decree or Edict of Expulsion from Spain was issued on March 31, 1492 and gave the Jews until July 31 of that year to leave—that was Tisha B’Av.

More recently, in 2005, many Israelis took note when Israel’s uprooting of 9,000 Jewish Israelis from 21 Gush Katif Jewish communities in the Gaza Strip and four in the northern West Bank (Samaria) were uprooted in what was called the Disengagement. It was considered by political leaders at the time to be a unilateral “peace” move. Ironically, it occurred just at the end of Tisha B’Av.

Rabbi Welton told a story about the significance of Tisha B’Av throughout history revealed in a legend about French leader Napoleon Bonaparte. While traveling through a small Jewish town in Europe, he rode by a synagogue and heard terrible cries coming from within.

“Peering through the window, he saw an incredible sight: hundreds of men and women weeping. They were sitting on the floor on small stools holding candles while reading from books. The synagogue had an elaborate chandelier but only a few candles were lit. If not for the small candle lights, the magnificent synagogue would have been in complete darkness. It was a gloomy and sad sight to behold,” writes Rabbi Welton.

“Napoleon asked his advisers what misfortune had happened there. His top adviser responded that nothing new and terrible had happened, but that the Jewish people had a tradition to gather once a year on a day they called the ninth day of Av, the day marking the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Twice they built a magnificent Temple in Jerusalem and both were destroyed. After their second Temple was destroyed, the people were scattered all over the world and sold as slaves and somehow the Jewish people still exist without their Temple. In order to commemorate these sad events, they gathered once a year in synagogue. There they fasted, prayed, and read sad prophetic writings concerning the destruction of their Temple and land.”

“The adviser concluded, ‘Mon Roi (“my King”), what we see in this town is happening today in Jewish communities around the world.’

“Napoleon then asked, ‘And how many years ago was this Temple destroyed?’

“The advisor answered, ‘Over two thousand years ago.’

“His eyes widening in surprise, Napoleon exclaimed, ‘A nation that cries and fasts for over two thousand years for their land and Temple will surely be rewarded with their Temple,’” Welton concluded.

Today, Tisha B’Av is still considered a day of mourning, fasting, and prayer. The book of Lamentations is read in the synagogues. In Jerusalem, thousands of people often walk around the Old City Walls in a group at night.

Julie Stahl is a correspondent for CBN News in the Middle East. A Hebrew speaker, she has been covering news in Israel full-time for more than 20 years. Julie’s life as a journalist has been intertwined with CBN—first as a graduate student in Journalism at Regent University; then as a journalist with Middle East Television (METV) when it was owned by CBN from 1989-91; and now with the Middle East Bureau of CBN News in Jerusalem since 2009. She is also an integral part of CBN News’ award-winning show, Jerusalem Dateline, a weekly news program providing a biblical and prophetic perspective to what is happening in Israel and the Middle East.

By Marc Turnage

The Western Wall refers to the western retaining wall built to support the Temple Mount platform. In the first century, this wall faced the city of Jerusalem, and as such, it had four gates in it that led onto the Temple Mount platform. 

The gates alternated in their access lower and upper. A street ran along the western wall in the first century. The two lower gates offered access to the Temple Mount from this street. The two high gates were accessed through a bridge and a stairwell supported by a massive arch. 

Today, we refer to these gates by the names of the modern explorers who rediscovered them and identified them. From north to south, they are Warren’s Gate, named after the British explorer Charles Warren. The next gate, accessed by the bridge that led from the Upper City of Jerusalem is Wilson’s Gate, named for the British explorer Charles Wilson. 

The third Gate, which today can be seen on the women’s section of the Western Wall prayer area, is Barclay’s Gate, named for the American missionary doctor, James Barclay. The final gate was named after the American explorer, Edward Robinson. Robinson identified the spring of an arch protruding from the western wall, which was the remains of a large arch that supported a monumental staircase that led onto the Temple Mount. 

Today visitors to Jerusalem encounter three areas of the Western Wall. The most famous in the Western Wall prayer plaza. This has served as a place of Jewish prayer for hundreds of years. It was a small area of the western wall of the Temple Mount retaining wall that was left exposed where Jews could come and pray. 

The Western Wall was not considered holy when the Temple stood but developed into a place of Jewish prayer centuries later. Today it functions as a synagogue and is the most holy site for Jews around the world. Men and women have two separate areas designated for their prayers. 

North of the Western Wall prayer plaza, one can go through a tunnel created by construction in later periods of buildings up against the western wall that follows the Western Wall. In these tunnels one sees the pillars that supported the bridge in the first century leading to Wilson’s Gate; one can even see Warren’s Gate, which is sealed up. 

Following along the tunnel, the first century street is visible in places, as are the massive hewn stones used to build the Western Wall. On the northern end of the tunnel, one encounters a pool, which was an open-air pool in the first century known as the Struthian Pool (or “Sparrow’s Pool”). 

South of the Western Wall plaza, one can walk along the first century street that ran along the Western Wall. On the southwestern corner of the Temple Mount, the spring of Robinson’s Arch is visible as are the small shops where vendors sold sacrifices for the Temple and changed money in the first century. 

The destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans can be seen in a pile of large hewn stones from the Temple Mount, which remains where they fell in the first century. So too, the buckling of the street from the collapse of the walls of the Temple attest to the destruction inflicted by the Romans. 

Marc Turnage is President/CEO of Biblical Expeditions. He is an authority on ancient Judaism and Christian origins. He has published widely for both academic and popular audiences. His most recent book, Windows into the Bible, was named by Outreach Magazine as one of its top 100 Christian living resources. Marc is a widely sought-after speaker and a gifted teacher. He has been guiding groups to the lands of the Bible—Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, and Italy—for over twenty years.

Website: WITBUniversity.com
Facebook: @witbuniversity
Podcast: Windows into the Bible Podcast

“As He drew near Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the road begging. Hearing a crowd passing by, he inquired what this meant. ‘Jesus the Nazarene is passing by,’ they told him. So he called out, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ … Jesus stopped and commanded that he be brought to Him. When he drew near, He asked him, ‘What do you want Me to do for you?’ ‘Lord,’ he said, ‘I want to see!’ ‘Receive your sight!’ Jesus told him” (Luke 18:35-42 HCSB).

Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem for the Passover, where He will be crucified by the Romans. He makes His way with a crowd of pilgrims, which includes His disciples. This traveling crowd found itself in hopeful anticipation that Jesus would inaugurate God’s kingdom immediately.

On the one hand, Jesus makes His way toward the cross, where the axis of history will come crashing down on His shoulders. And, on the other, He’s surrounded by people caught up in His charismatic greatness.

We can imagine Him laser-focused on the Father’s will and ready to face the suffering that awaited Him in Jerusalem. We can also imagine Him caught up in the redemptive expectations of the crowd surrounding Him. Either way, how easy would it have been for Him to completely miss the cry of a blind beggar broken on the side of the road?

That’s how many of us would have responded in a similar situation. Focused upon our task, with nothing distracting us, or caught up in our own press. But not Jesus. He heard the blind man’s call in the midst of the crowd’s enthusiasm and His own steely determination. He heard the cry, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And He stopped.

Jesus was an important man, to both God and men. Yet He stopped. His mission was the most important mission ever given by God to a man. Yet He heard. Jesus never became so enamored with Himself or so task-focused that He lost the ability to see and hear the cry of a person broken on the side of the road.

Would the cross have meant as much if He had walked by, ignoring the blind man’s desperate plea for mercy and healing?

We can find ourselves so caught up in our tasks, even our tasks for God, that we fail to see the broken, poor, and suffering on the side of the road crying for help.

If Jesus could hear the cry, if He was willing to take the time to stop, and if He could bring healing mercy to the blind man, then so can we.

PRAYER

Father, open our eyes to see and our ears to hear the cries of the suffering, broken, and poor in our world, because in their cries, we meet You and can follow Your Son. Amen.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are arguably the most significant archaeological discovery of the twentieth century. Why? What is their significance? To understand the significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls, we need to discuss their discovery and what comprises them.

Sometime in 1946 a young Bedouin boy discovered scrolls and pieces of scrolls in a cave along the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, near to an ancient ruin known as Khirbet Qumran. This began a search for scrolls within caves along the Dead Sea between Bedouin and scholars.

Manuscripts were discovered at places along the Dead Sea, Wadi Muraba’at, Nahal Hever, Masada, and Jericho, but the most concentrated discovery of scroll manuscripts came from eleven caves around the site of Khirbet Qumran. These eleven caves yielded approximately 30,000 fragments of manuscripts, which, when assembled, represent about 1,000 scrolls. These scrolls were written on animal skin, papyrus, and one even on copper. The majority were composed in Hebrew, some in Aramaic, and a few in Greek.

The Qumran scrolls date from the third century B.C. to the first century A.D. They represent the library of the community which lived at the site of Qumran. Most scholars identify this settlement as belonging to a Jewish group known from Josephus and other ancient writers known as the Essenes. The scrolls represent the library of this community; some were brought to the community and others were copied there.

The library divides into three groups:

1. Biblical texts: This refers to the Jewish Scriptures known to Christians as the Old Testament. Every book of the Old Testament was found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, except for Esther. Scholars have recently suggested they identified a fragment of Esther, which, if true, means every book of the Old Testament was discovered among the Qumran library.

1. Jewish non-sectarian literature: Fragments of Jewish works written outside of the Bible yet known within other contexts were discovered in the Qumran scrolls. Books like Tobit, Ben Sira, 1 Enoch, and Jubilees were discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls. These works were preserved in translations into other languages, like Greek, Latin, and Ethiopic, but the Hebrew and Aramaic originals no longer existed. The Qumran scrolls provided Hebrew and Aramaic copies of these works. So too, other Jewish works not previously known, but not belonging to the Jewish sect that lived at Qumran were discovered among the scrolls. These provide important windows into ancient Judaism, its thoughts, beliefs, interpretations of the Bible, and practices.

1. Sectarian scrolls: The settlement of Essenes lived at Qumran. This group produced their own literature which reflects their sectarian beliefs, theology, and expectations. These scrolls also provide an important window into the spiritual world of ancient Judaism.

These scrolls offer a treasure trove of information about ancient Judaism, the differences of interpretation, ideas, beliefs, practices, and expectations of redemption and the end. They offer a contemporary library to the world of the New Testament and what developed into rabbinic Judaism.

No book of the New Testament was found among the Dead Sea scrolls. So too, no character within the New Testament appears within the Dead Sea Scrolls. The amount of information the Dead Sea Scrolls provide to our knowledge and understanding of the world which birthed Christianity and rabbinic Judaism makes them one of the most significant discoveries ever.

Marc Turnage is President/CEO of Biblical Expeditions. He is an authority on ancient Judaism and Christian origins. He has published widely for both academic and popular audiences. His most recent book, Windows into the Bible, was named by Outreach Magazine as one of its top 100 Christian living resources. Marc is a widely sought-after speaker and a gifted teacher. He has been guiding groups to the lands of the Bible—Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, and Italy—for over twenty years.

Website: WITBUniversity.com
Facebook: @witbuniversity
Podcast: Windows into the Bible Podcast

For disabled adults in Israel, finding the right living situation can be challenging. The desire to live independently and safely can collide with needing unique accommodations. 

But friends like you are empowering them through CBN Israel, as we partner with the non-profit organization, Shalva National Center. As one of the largest and most advanced centers of its kind, Shalva is dedicated to providing quality care to special needs individuals and their families.

This partnership lets disabled Israelis balance independent living with guided supervision—and in a newly furnished apartment. During the day, residents work at Shalva, and then come home to their CBN Israel-sponsored apartment. They share housekeeping chores with the staff members overseeing them. It’s given them and their families a new future.

The residents enjoy the freedom of apartment living. Gila says, “It’s fun to live here. My heart is connected to the apartment.” Tahala adds, “In the flat, I live with friends—I feel happy!” Donors are offering Israelis with disabilities the opportunity to enjoy a safe, meaningful community.

This is just one of the ways your gift to CBN Israel can bring hope and encouragement to those needing assistance. You can also bring help to single mothers, victims of terrorism, new immigrant families, aging Holocaust survivors, and many more. What a blessing for those in crisis to know that someone cares!

Between global inflation and the influx or people coming to Israel to escape war and poverty, the needs are escalating. Your support can supply food, housing, financial aid, and essentials to those who are hurting. 

Please join us in reaching out to others!

GIVE TODAY

By Marc Turnage

In the northeastern corner of the Jezreel Valley sits the dome shaped hill of Mount Tabor. The steep slopes on all sides of the solitary mountain lead to a plateau on top, 1000 meters by 400 meters in area. The tribal territories of Zebulun, Issachar, and Naphtali meet at Mount Tabor.

Mount Tabor played a prominent role in the story of Deborah and Barak. They gathered the Israelite forces at Mount Tabor prior to their battle with the Canaanite forces of Jabin, king of Hazor, that were led by his general Sisera (Judges 4). The Israelites used the steep slopes of Tabor to their strategic advantage against the Canaanite chariots. So too, their gathering at Tabor prior to the battle may have to do with the connection of the mountain to cultic worship (see Deuteronomy 33:18-19; Hosea 5:1).  

Mount Tabor served as the site for several battles during the Hellenistic and Roman eras. Josephus, who became a historian of ancient Judaism, fortified the mountain as part of his efforts in the Galilee during the First Jewish Revolt against Rome (A.D. 66-73). 

Christian tradition, from the time of the Church Fathers, identified Mount Tabor as a possible location for the site of the event of the Transfiguration. The Gospels do not specify the location of this event, simply calling it “a very high mountain” (Matthew 17:1; Mark 9:2). The earliest tradition identifying Mount Tabor as the location of the Transfiguration comes from the Gospel according to the Hebrews. 

This work no longer exists, but Church Fathers quote passages of it in their works. Origen, citing the Gospel according to the Hebrews, identified the location of the Transfiguration as occurring on Mount Tabor. If this was written in the Gospel according to the Hebrews, then this tradition dates to the late first or early second century A.D. Cyril also knew the tradition that placed the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor. 

Both Eusebius and the Bordeaux Pilgrim do not mention the mountain being a sacred mountain. Thus, while some early Christian traditions located the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, it was not treated as a sacred mountain or site within the early Byzantine period. Today, visitors to the mountain find a church on its summit.

Marc Turnage is President/CEO of Biblical Expeditions. He is an authority on ancient Judaism and Christian origins. He has published widely for both academic and popular audiences. His most recent book, Windows into the Bible, was named by Outreach Magazine as one of its top 100 Christian living resources. Marc is a widely sought-after speaker and a gifted teacher. He has been guiding groups to the lands of the Bible—Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, and Italy—for over twenty years.

Website: WITBUniversity.com
Facebook: @witbuniversity
Podcast: Windows into the Bible Podcast

“LORD, how long will You forget me? Forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long will I store up anxious concerns within me, agony in my mind every day? How long will my enemy dominate me? Consider me and answer, LORD my God. Restore brightness to my eyes; otherwise, I will sleep in death. My enemy will say, ‘I have triumphed over him,’ and my foes will rejoice because I am shaken. But I have trusted in Your faithful love; my heart will rejoice in Your deliverance. I will sing to the LORD because He has treated me generously” (Psalm 13:1-6 HCSB).

The Bible is beautiful because it’s real. It’s about real people. Real emotions. Real frustrations.

Too often, we hide behind a forced spirituality that has more to do with the power of positive thinking than the faith of the Bible. We bury our emotions and frustrations because true faith doesn’t have doubts or fears, and it certainly doesn’t get upset with God.

The Bible, however, invites us to be real with God. It encourages our frustrations and our emotions of abandonment, especially abandonment from God. The psalms contain a number of laments, which are both individual and communal.

The lament is simply a complaint to God. A holy complaint. It expresses raw feelings, emotions, and frustrations. Reading the laments in the Bible should teach us how to complain to God—and get real with our emotions before Him and before ourselves.

The lament follows a pattern: (1) address God, (2) describe the complaint, (3) request God’s help, and (4) express trust in God.

The author of Psalm 13 addresses himself to God and openly describes his complaint. He acknowledges feeling ignored by God, that God has hidden Himself from the psalmist. His cares and grief seem never-ending. Those he considers his enemies have come against him. He asks God to be moved to action and come to his aid, lest he be overwhelmed.

He concludes by affirming his trust—despite his feelings and frustrations—in God’s faithfulness. God has been good to him in the past; he expects Him to be the same in the future. Notice, however, the psalm does not end with the resolution of his problems. He simply articulates his trust in God.

Do we allow ourselves to complain before God? Do we give voice to our deep frustrations before Him? Even our disappointments with Him?

The biblical lament never allowed for the person to be overly consumed with his or her feelings. The lamenter always returns to an affirmation of hope and trust in God. We can complain to God, and we could grow in our faith if we genuinely allow it in ourselves and others.

Our communities could become true places of refuge and healing if we allowed such raw, unfiltered expressions of our frustrations and emotions framed within our trust of God, even when He seems hidden.

PRAYER

Father, at times we feel completely cut off from You, like You have forgotten us. Like You have hidden Yourself from us. But our cry stretches out to You, our Father. We trust in You. Amen.

The land of Israel belongs to the Levant, also called Syro-Palestine. This region consists of the modern countries of Lebanon, Syria, the Kingdom of Jordan, Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza Strip. It forms the strategic land bridge connecting the continents of Asia and Africa. It sat at the crossroads of the ancient world, between the imperial powers of Egypt and Mesopotamia.

Situated between the Mediterranean Sea to the west and the barren desert to the east, the Levant contained the major land routes connecting Egypt and Mesopotamia, with the most important road running from Egypt, via the coastal plain of Israel, turning northeast through the lowlands of the Carmel towards Damascus, and then on to Mesopotamia. Its location made it strategic for travel, commerce and trade, and communication.

Thus, whoever controlled the land of Israel, controlled travel, trade, and communication. The imperial superpowers of the day often fought between each other in the Levant. In periods of imperial decline, local kingdoms fought to control the strategic crossroads. Even marauders from the deserts to the east sought to attack and control the well-watered lands of the Levant. Climate and geography impacted the regional instability of the land of Israel.

Periods of peace were few, short, and far between. Personal and national existence could never be taken for granted, and here God called Abraham and his descendants to live in faithfulness to Him. This geopolitical insecurity of the region served as “God’s testing ground of faith” and the stage upon which the redemptive drama played out, where sinner and saint struggled against internal upheaval and external threat.

Because of its strategic location at the crossroads of the ancient world, the land of Israel never existed in isolation. The imperial powers which marched through the land brought their cultural, religious, political, and military systems with them. The children of Israel faced the challenge of obedience too God and His exclusive claim upon them in this setting. They were confronted with the question of God’s power versus the nations around them.

The incursion of these elements into the land led some to fight against them, others to isolate themselves seeking to remain pure, others to insulate themselves, and some even to assimilate. However, in the midst of this geographical, cultural, and religious crossroads, God revealed Himself to the children of Israel and the world.

Marc Turnage is President/CEO of Biblical Expeditions. He is an authority on ancient Judaism and Christian origins. He has published widely for both academic and popular audiences. His most recent book, Windows into the Bible, was named by Outreach Magazine as one of its top 100 Christian living resources. Marc is a widely sought-after speaker and a gifted teacher. He has been guiding groups to the lands of the Bible—Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, and Italy—for over twenty years.

Website: WITBUniversity.com

Facebook: @witbuniversity
Podcast: Windows into the Bible Podcast